Never give up; Never surrender

Lately, in my life and others' lives, the spiritual warfare seems to be getting much stronger. I have spoken with several people and they all echoed this idea. For some reason everything seemed to have been ramped up a couple of notches.


So why continue when all of life seems surrounded by hardship?

What hope is there for any of us at all?

Let me give a quick CS Lewis analogy.

Imagine a group of people all living in a large building. Half of these people think the building is a hotel, the other half believe it to be a prison.

The half that believes themselves to be in a hotel might find their surroundings quite distressing. No room service, shoddy furniture: these things bother them. The half that believe it to be a prison might be surprised to discover their comfort. 'This isn't as bad as a prison COULD be!'

If you really understand where you are, your expectations will change.



Let's play a game: I give you a scenario then you tell me whether or not you think the person in the scenario would have a hard life or an easy one. How about this: an American soldier in Nazi Germany during World War II? Do you think His life is going to be difficult or easy?



We are in a war. This life is filled with spiritual conflict. Our main enemy lies not in the physical plane but the spiritual one. We are soldiers in enemy occupied territory. It isn't going to be easy. It may even be agonizing.

But what can keep us going? What can possible pull us through?

Love- love of our fellow soldiers, love of our victorious Leader, love of the ones that are counting on us to stand firm and endure in the face of the burning heat and the wounded hearts, love of the One that did more for us than we could possibly do for Him.

We will hurt. There will be suffering unforeseen and pain seemingly insurmountable. Yet we must go on. For the sake of others, for the sake of ourselves. We must prevail. We must depend on the Source from which all good things come: all love, all courage, all hope.

To those of you that hurt, I tell you this: It is okay to hurt. It is never okay to give up.


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